MEXICO
The Times of Israel
The leader of the extremist ultra-Orthodox cult Lev Tahor has reportedly drowned in Mexico.
Local media reports said the body of Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, 55, was found in a river that he entered for a ritual immersion late Friday afternoon.
The Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the reports and investigating, but could not confirm the information, according to Channel 10.
The Lev Tahor group practices an extreme form of ultra-Orthodox Judaism started in the 1980s under which the women wear black head-to-toe cloaks similar to the Muslim chador.
The 500-strong sect has left Israel, Canada and the United States in recent years amid allegations of child abuse and has been dubbed “the Jewish Taliban.”
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